The Ninth Configuration

Rating:
Summary: The method to the madness of the human tragedy of war
Review: A brilliant mixture of witty humor, gothic settings, enigmatic characters and theological debates about the existence - or nonexistence - of God combine to provide a rare insight into men experiencing the onset of madness after suffering the horrors of war. Written, directed and produced by the author of 'The Exorcist', William Peter Blatty, 'The Ninth Configuration' is a challenging movie that not so surprisingly fails to make much sense to a first time viewer, though it makes a powerful impact on anyone who does see it. Set during the time frame of the Vietnam War, Blatty deftly melds a variety of psychologically puzzling characters, supplying them with the most spellbinding and eminently quotable dialogue you are likely to ever hear in a film and placing them in an eerie castle in the Pacific northwest being used as a military asylum. What follows is an undeniable cinematic masterpiece - densely macabre on the surface and slowly stripping away it's often shadowy foreboding layers until the incredible and shattering ending. A film that inevitably defies any sense of classification, it can be viewed as a drama, a mystery, or a thriller, but in the final analysis it most appropriately fits the label of a theological thriller like it's predecessor 'The Exorcist'.

Simply put 'The Ninth Configuration' is a wow of a movie. Everyone is superbly cast and gives an unforgettable performance, especially Stacy Keach and Scott Wilson. There's never a dull moment after the credits run: we first see an astronaut abort his lunar launching mere seconds before take off, leading to his admission to the asylum; before a new psychologist arrives to assume command we are treated to a scene of the inmates gathering together in the castle grounds to welcome him and its here we are first introduced to them, their eccentricities and various states of mental condition; barely does the new head of the asylum get to his office before one of the inmates barges in, demanding to be evaluated for treatment, behaving quite bizarrely and sounding every bit like a lunatic. But all is not as it appears as we soon find out. Blatty proficiently weaves a deep mystery amidst the conversations the new asylum head has in various encounters with the inmates and also the Marine staff. Sidesplitting one-liners, raving solicitations for help, demented delusions, fantastic irrational rants and heartfelt pleas for mercy and understanding ceaselessly intertwine one another resulting in a chaotic conundrum that will soon take it's toll on the asylum head.

Through the years following since it's initial release (1980) the running times have varied from as short as 99 minutes to a lengthy 140 minutes; reportedly some even rarer prints run as long as three hours! Other running times still in circulation via countless video issues can vary between 109 - 119 minutes. This DVD version is the latest preferred presentation by Blatty who provides some enlightening commentary that is beneficial to ardent fans and newcomers alike. A Special Feature called "Outtakes" includes several deleted scenes that sheds some light onto sequences included in the final cut shown here, clearing up some quirky confusing dialogue; additionally there are two alternate endings within this area that subtlety change the film's ending. A cult classic immediately upon release, 'The Ninth Configuration' is a movie that benefits from repeated viewings; I'm guessing you'll find that repeated viewings will be impossible to deny yourself - in fact you are likely to find it habit-forming!

Rating:
Summary: Blatty's Folly
Review: The cinematography is quite good. It's always nice to watch the work of an DP who knows how to compose a Cinemascope frame. That's it for the "pros," though.

Mr. Blatty should have known, as a professional writer, that this was the kind of self-indulgent stuff that should never have seen the outside of his wastebasket. My guess is that he had so much fun writing this piece that he made the mistake of thinking that meant it was good. It isn't.

It's very much like watching a Kevin Smith movie. The script is just the writer talking and talking and talking, knocking himself out with his own cleverness rather than trying to tell a story to an audience. The difference is that Kevin Smith occasionally is funny.

The performances are universally underpar. What you get to see is a bunch of actors being allowed to go with their first impulses in every scene. They haven't been directed at all. Poor Scott Wilson looks embarrassed at what he's being allowed to get away with. Every scene looks like a blooper. A painful thing to watch.

I can't, for the life of me, understand the acclaim this movie has received. It's like a beautifully photographed community theatre production of a script written by a precocious college freshman.

Rating:
Summary: WHAT HAPPENED, BLATTY!?!
Review: What happened to the transfer of this AMAZING film, Blatty? I swear, my widescreen VHS has a better quality picture than this version. The commentary is wonderful, but no subtitles? Come on. This is one of the MOST BRILLIANT scripts ever written. You do yourself a disservice. The performances and story are incredible. Honor your work properly. I love the original ending. Thank God, that was restored. But the rearrangement of the PUNISHMENT OF THE ATOMS SCENE doesn't work for me. Keach is obviously sweating, which comes later in the film. Maybe the atoms rearranged it. HAH! I thought I'd seen just about every incarnation of this MASTERPIECE, but the Aftermath of the Barroom Fight was new to me and a welcome addition to an otherwise confusing translation and transfer. I'm giving this 5 Stars because I don't want to bring down the film's rating- which is a 10+. THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL FILM THAT ALWAYS BRINGS A FLOOD OF TEARS. I have Atheist friends who LOVE THIS FILM. What does that tell you?

We've waited years to obtain what is one of our FAVORITE FILMS OF ALL TIME, on DVD. It's just a little disappointing. Please, redo this work of GENIUS!! THIS IS A MONUMENTAL WORK OF ART!! Give it to the Preservation Society. Or to Criterion for restoration. Well, at least it's Letterboxed and I own a copy that will last a lifetime.

Why is great art always neglected? I don't get it. Oh, that's right, Warner Brothers owns this and they won't make any money because this is a "cult film." And money always takes precedent over art. What a crime.

Rating:
Summary: Two alternate endings?
Review: Claimed to be included in the special features are two alternate endings. I believe that I've watched everything on the disc and just cannot find them. If "ending" means the knife/no knife scene in Kane's room then there is one alternate ending. Surely not, because that would be 'an' alternate ending. Have I missed something obvious?
Other than that, Blatty's present edition of his questioning opus is quite satisfying and, of course, thought provoking. However, it is at least 10 minutes or more shorter than the theatrical version I once saw.
After the movie we played the voices-over feature and then watched the movie again. It was more absorbing and explicable, with no temptation to skip forward.

Rating:
Summary: DVD is the best yet
Review: See my review from Nov. 4 2001 entitled "You now have your one example."
-I baught the DVD and the color is great. I see nothing wrong with the transfer. Some of the deleted scened have a yellow tint and off color black mats, but they're deleted scenes...and good ones if I might add. The commentary is very informative and the film itself has a few more extended scenes compared to the VHS versions, but nothing was taken out. I must say the DVD is the best presentation of this great story yet."You now have your one example."

Rating:
Summary: DVD is the best yet
Review: See my review from Nov. 4 2001 entitled "You now have you're one example."
-I baught the DVD and the color is great. I see nothing wrong with the transfer. Some of the deleted scened have a yellow tint and off color black mats, but they're deleted scenes...and good ones if I might add. The commentary is very informative and the film itself has a few more extended scenes compared to the VHS versions, but nothing was taken out. I must say the DVD is the best presentation of this great story yet."You now have your one example."

Rating:
Summary: Of Eye Charts and The Human Condition
Review: The two most recent reviews state the following:

Reviewer 1:"The transfer is ... dirty beyond belief."
Reviewer 2:"The NINTH CONFIGURATION has never looked so
sharp or grain-free; truly, every other version of this film
has been loaded with grain, and this one is astonishingly clear."

As for color, the skin tones are lifelike, but for anyone overly exposed to cartoons, all TV sets have color correction controls.

Rating:
Summary: 5 star movie ....0 star DVD...equals 2 1/2 star rating.
Review: I love this movie...and have been anxious to receive the DVD.....and was amazed to see it was coming out with a director commentary, deleted scenes and alternate ending!
This is all too much to believe for a fan and the bad news is as follows: The commentary is great, the featurette is fine , although it was widescreen and is cropped for full frame thus chopping off copy and on and on..but the worst news of all? The transfer is disgusting...poor color correction and dirty beyond belief. You will enjoy the fact it is on DVD if you are a fan but DON'T get your hopes up that this will look like an improvement over your previous video tapes etc.

Rating:
Summary: Great film; disappointing presentation
Review: First of all, I love this film, so it's difficult for me to say this. But this DVD of THE NINTH CONFIGURATION is a disappointment. The specs say it's widescreen enhanced (16x9), but it's not. (It's letterboxed, yes, but with distractingly light mattes--the black level seems off). The specs also say it's closed captioned, but it's not--a real shame, considering that it's easy to miss much of the great dialog. Also, the whole film has a yellowish tinge, absent from all previous versions. You get used to it (sort of) after a while, but everyone looks jaundiced. In general, all the colors are duller and paler than the most recent Warner letterboxed videocassette. The plus side is that NINTH CONFIGURATION has never looked so sharp or grain-free; truly, every other version of this film has been loaded with grain, and this one is astonishingly clear. And the director commentary is interesting. But, really, someone dropped the ball here, and it's just wrong to provide misleading specs. The movie gets 5 stars in my book, but this presentation measures a 2.

UPDATE: It appears that the the quality of this DVD is a bit controversial. Let me elaborate a bit on a few of my comments. Earlier, I wrote: "Also, the whole film has a yellowish tinge, absent from all previous versions." Another person posting here took me to task for this, accusing me of only watching cartoons and basing my conclusion on that. That's truly an odd assertion. Actually, the color looked odd to me as soon as I put in the DVD, so I took out the last videotape version of the film, Warner's letterboxed edtion. Just to give one example, doctors' coats on the tape version are white; doctors' coats on the DVD edition have a yellow cast. Fleshtones on the tape have a reddish (maybe too reddish) cast. Characters on the tape have slightly jaundiced look. Yes, I did an A-B comparison. When you go back and forth between tape and DVD, the conclusion seems obvious: The DVD has a yellowish cast throughout, not just in the workprint scenes. This same poster also questioned this part of my post, "The plus side is that NINTH CONFIGURATION has never looked so sharp or grain-free," because another Amazon user said the transfer looked dirty. Perhaps my original posting was a bit overstated. The print is not really "grain-free"--but it is much, MUCH less grainy than any previous edition. Really. Again, I'm basing this by an A-B comparison between Warner's letterboxed tape and this DVD. The difference is like night and day. I also note that Amazon's description still says that the film has closed captions and is an anamorphic transfer. Neither is correct.

Rating:
Summary: An under-appreciated masterpiece
Review: William Peter Blatty returned to his comic roots and wrote, produced, directed (and even cameoed in) his movie "The Ninth Configuration." It is a movie I highly recommend. It's a challenging film which is perhaps why few people know about it. (Most people know Blatty for writing the book "The Exorcist") Being a VHS tape, one expects little bells and whistles on this product, which is the only reason this movie did not rate the 5 stars. I look forward to seeing this product released on DVD, hopefully with commentary by director and the major stars. I like this movie so much that I will not be upset for having to buy it both on VHS and DVD.